Dawn of a journey
by Alexander-Crossover
Summary: Part 1 of my series. "Koran Terada was searching for a purpose in like and he found it in the small green bear he named Lloyd. However what he didn't realize was that Lloyd was destined for more and it is Koran's job to train him for his destiny.
1. Dawn of Destiny

_"In ancient times, the elements of the world were wild and untamed,__  
__Their great powers shaped the earth as it grew and sought to continue drastic changes.__  
__But on the eve of the human renaissance and great magician named Clow Reed bound the unpredictable elements and sealed them in the form of 35 magical Clow Cards.__  
__Eventually Clow Reed died from age and the cards and their guardians were sealed away. As man was able to delve into technology and become the dominant species on earth.__  
__However in the future the cards will be unsealed and their power will once again be unleashed upon the world.__  
__One being will be tasked with collecting these cards in order to pacify the elements for if they are not then their powers will once again be able to shape the Earth.__  
__And if the being is judged unworthy to hold the cards, then those whose lives have been touched by them will suffer a terrible fate worse than death._"

**Dawn of a Journey**

Chapter 1: Dawn of Destiny

A full moon shone its light down on the boreal forest, shining through the trees straight to the ground. However there was no peace in the woods tonight, a brown bear cub was running as fast as he could, the cries of his parents and the strange monster that had attacked them still pounding in his ears. The Family of bears had gone out so the parents could teach their cub how to hunt and forage for food. As the day had worn on things had gone fairly well, until they were attacked by a monster, a strange being that looked to be made of shadow with a hole in its chest, blood red eyes, long pointed teeth, and razor sharp claws on its hands and feet. As the cub ran it tripped over a protruding tree root and lay stunned on the forest floor. As the cub lay there one of the stars overhead shone brighter than the rest and a beam of light descended over the young cub.

Nearby an old was wandering through the woods, it had been his home for several years and despite his age he was clearly in prime physical condition for his age; he was wearing robes that cut off halfway down his shins so they wouldn't catch on the forest floor. He saw the shaft of light descend into the forest, he was transfixed for a moment until he heard the roar of the monster.

"Another one," he said, withdrawing a medallion from a pocket in his robes. The medallion began to glow and an instant later the man was holding a longsword in his right hand. He took off towards the noise, which was in the same direction as the light.

The sword-carrying man arrived in time to see the shaft of light descend over the unconscious cub, he approached it and watch in amazement as the young bear's body began to change, his fur changed from light brown to bright green, his body began to reshape itself to a more humanoid form. The old man approached and reached out with his left hand, as soon as his hand came in contact with the changing bear he felt a tug on him, the magical power he possessed felt like it was being sucked from him into the animal. He jerked his hand back quickly as the bear's transformation finished, a small red heart appeared on his rear, and the pads on the bottom of the bear's feet and the tip of his nose became dark green and heart-shaped.

The old man had no time to be in awe as the same creature that had killed the bear's parents came charging towards them, blood still visible on its teeth from its actions. The old man clearly had experience fighting these things as he easily avoided the fierce attacks of the creature and struck back, severing the creature's head with one strike from his sword. The creature let out a strangled cry as its head was removed and its body dissolved, leaving nothing behind except the damage it had caused.

The old man stood for an instant, catching his breath, before he changed his sword back into a medallion. He glanced and the now transformed cub behind him and realized what the creature must have done. He followed the creature's trail backwards and peered into a small clearing, cringing at the site, which were the remains of the cub's parents. Deciding to let nature take care of itself, he returned to where the cub lay and lifted it up in his arms. He looked down at the cub's face, now peaceful in sleep, and sighed.

"Poor cub, he probably doesn't know what has happened, but that light," he thought for a moment, "I can feel even now that he has gained some of my powers, maybe this is the reason I was drawn here, maybe raising him is my purpose in life and I can pass my legacy on to him." He turned and walked back the way he had come bearing the cub in his arms.

Later in the cave where the man lived, he sat next to a fire with the cub sleeping across the fire from him. The cub stirred and looked up at the man.

"Don't be afraid, I am Koran Terada, I saved you," The cub looked at him, not afraid but curious. It yawned still tired.

"Get some sleep," Koran said, "at last I feel like my life has purpose, Lloyd Terada." And thus was the green bear named, as he slept not knowing of the strange powers he had acquired that night.


	2. Mistakes and Training

Chapter 2: Mistakes and Training

Six years passed as Koran began the job of parenthood towards the young cub. Toilet training was the first of the many things he had to teach Lloyd, especially since Koran had no desire to spend time changing and washing cloth diapers. Thankfully for the Koran, the bear seemed to retain a bit of his instincts from when he was a normal animal and the training was relatively easily accomplished which meant that he was able to teach his adopted son more crucial things, such as: how to read, how to write, and especially how to defend himself.

As early as his third birthday, Lloyd had taken an interest in being trained physically in martial arts and swordplay, albeit the swords they trained with were made of wood. Koran had to admit that his son had a talent for both the sword and martial arts and for three years Lloyd began to build up both the strength and skill that he would need it the years to come. Lloyd was not very tall, only a foot tall when he was first found and barely 2 feet tall when he was five

However when Lloyd was six, something happened that changed his life forever. It occurred after one particularly strenuous day of training in the summer while both Koran and Lloyd were settling down to sleep. Koran kept a small shelf of books in the back of the cave where they lived, Lloyd was not allowed to take the books down himself but Koran would usually provide him with one or two to read or learn from in order to further what little education he could get while living in a cave. Earlier that day before they had begun their training Lloyd had watched Koran putting away one of the books he had been reading earlier that day and accidentally jar a strange book loose and Lloyd found himself staring at it. It was primarily red with gold coloured triangular plated on two corners of each of the covers and gold coloured patterns on the front, and what really drew his attention was the image of large, winged, maneless lion wearing armour on his head and shoulders that covered most of the front cover. Lloyd felt strangely drawn to this book but he couldn't get any more of a look at it as Koran was able to pick it up and shove it back on the shelf before he and Lloyd began their training.

Now Lloyd was lying awake on a bed of moss with a crudely made, but warm, blanket across him, unable to sleep with the book and its strange nature calling to him. All he was really waiting for was to be absolutely certain that Koran was fast asleep, as he had learned long ago that his father was a rather light sleeper. He waited for quite some time before he was sure that he wouldn't wake up Koran, then he carefully climbed out from under his blanket and carefully crept back into the cave, feeling along the wall as he had no source of artificial light other than the full moon that shone slightly into the cave through the several holes in the roof that let both fresh air and sunlight in during the day, not as well as artificial lighting would but enough to see far back enough to reach the storage area.

When the young bear finally reached the bookshelf, he was astounded to see that part of the bookshelf was glowing, glowing brightly enough in fact that he didn't need to guide himself along the wall and was able to approach the shelf and reach for the glow, which by a strange coincidence was the very book he was looking for. He took the book down and found that it was held shut by a small clasp, with a lock and keyhole. Lloyd became downcast at that moment as Koran probably had the key to the book on his person, and trying to steal something from Koran Terada was essentially suicide, even while he was asleep.

Lloyd was just about to give up and go back to bed when there was a bright flash and the lock suddenly came undone. The bear carefully opened the front of the book, except he found that it wasn't really a book at all. There were no real pages but instead the insides of the book was a solid mass of paper with a large rectangular hole cut into it in which sat a large stack of cards. Lloyd reached in and carefully picked up the top card of the deck, the card had a large image of a woman on the front (he knew about women as Koran had shown him images in some of the books and had once gotten him close enough to a small campsite in order to observe a family camping), the woman had large wings and several ribbons around her body. Lloyd looked at the base of the card as he stood up, still hoding the book, and spoke aloud.

"This card, it feels somehow, alive, but how?" he read the two words that were written across the bottom of the card, "The Windy?" At that moment a bright blue light formed around his feet in the shape of a strange glyph, looking like a multi-beamed sun with a small moon emblem in a rather large ring. Lloyd had almost no time to be amazed as suddenly a massive windstorm brewed around his feet, creating a large tornado that erupted straight up around him. Lloyd was preoccupied with keeping his footing so he didn't notice at first that the cards were beginning to be swept up by the wind storm, turning into bright energy and flying through the solid ceiling before being dispersed to somewhere unknown, slowly at first but picking up speed. By the time Lloyd did notice there were so few cards left in the book that he was determined to save at least some of them so he let The Windy go, allowing it to escape as well, and used all his strength to force the book shut and lock it, managing to keep five of the cards from escaping.

Lloyd's slight thrill at having been able to shut the book was mixed with worry both for possibly letting some valuable possessions of his father escape and the even greater fear of being discovered and punished, the last of those fears was immediately realized when he heard Koran's voice form behind him.

"Lloyd, what have you just done?"

Koran has been awakened by the slight magical pulse when Lloyd accidentally unlocked the book and had gotten to his adopted son just in time to see the cards start to fly away and was forced to hang onto an outcropping on the cave wall for support and now stood aghast at what had just happened.

Lloyd was backing away slowly, a look of fear and guilt on his face, while holding the book tightly. Koran sighed and spoke in a calm voice.

"Lloyd, please don't be afraid, I am a bit disappointed that you took something from my bookshelf without asking but I assume you that what has happened tonight was destined to happen, please come here." Koran's voice was so reassuring that the bear's fears of any dreadful punishment were immediately dismissed and he ran crying to his father's arms.

"Father," he said in between sobs, "I'm so sorry *sniff* I saw the book when you dropped it earlier and I *sniff* felt like it was calling to me. I didn't mean to lose your precious cards, please I'm so sorry." Koran hugged Lloyd tightly, as if to reassure him that everything was going to be alright as his son's tears stained his clothes.

"Lloyd, we will talk about this tomorrow, just go back to sleep and take the book with you." Lloyd wiped his eyes clean and nodded before walking ashamedly back to his bed. Koran stood pondering this development for a moment.

"So it appears that my son is the chosen one, he was able to open the book when no one in my family had been able to until now. Now I am certain that he was the reason I was brought here. What's this?" he knelt down to find a strange amulet lying on the ground, it was a pink string with a small key attached that had a bird's head.

"The key, so it was inside the book the entire time. I will instruct him tomorrow so he can perform his duty." Koran then retired, noting that Lloyd had set the book next to his bed and was apparently fallen asleep as soon as had lain down to rest. Koran couldn't help but smile at his son as he slept as he lay down as well.

"I'm sure you can do this Lloyd, I have faith in you."

The next morning after they had eaten their breakfast, Lloyd sat on a rock in front of their cave with Koran stranding across form him. The book from the previous night was on Lloyd's lap as he sat, still looking a bit ashamed of himself. Koran smiled and walked over to him, sitting down on the same rock.

"Don't be afraid, Lloyd, what happened last night was meant to happen, and now I must tell you the story of Clow Reed." Lloyd's eyes changed from shame to fascination as his father spoke to him.

"Over 500 years ago, there existed a man named Clow Reed, he was my ancestor and he possessed a gift, the ability to channel magic through his body. He was a great sorcerer and he was able to use his powers to create several artefacts by harnessing the rampant elements of the world in order to allow people to progress. He bound the most rampant elements and several others of his own creation in the form of Cards known as the Clow Cards and used them to live on his own in order to make his life mostly in solitude more bearable. Before he died, he sealed the cards in that book you have with you, The Book of the Clow which he sealed keeping anyone from opening it, even those in his family, and he left a prophecy that has been passed down in our family for generations. 'I may be gone soon, but one day someone will appear who can break the seal and will be destined to be the master of the Clow Cards after he faces tests to prove his worth.'" Lloyd was in awe at what his father had told him, and Koran smiled at him.

"Lloyd, my son, you are that chosen one, it is your destiny to be master of the Clow Cards and the first test you must face is to capture the Clow Cards yourself. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do," Lloyd said, "so what are you going to teach me?"

"I'm going to teach you how to harness the magical power inside of you so you can go after the cards yourself, now come, first I must teach you how to extend your magical power into the real world." Lloyd dropped the book on his seat and followed Koran to their usual training grounds, especially happy now that his disobedience was not given a punishment, but rather with something he would be able to use in the future.


	3. The Illusion of Maturity

Chapter 3: The Illusion of Maturity

Koran did teach Lloyd how to use his magic and for six years the bear learned to control his powers and use them well. Koran even began to teach him how to work with the elements and create them, albeit at great exhaustion. The training proceeded well and Lloyd was able to learn what Koran taught him, with a natural talent that astounded Koran.

After the six years passed, Koran decided to give his young son a reward on July 13th of that year.

"Happy birthday my son," Koran said, as he handed Lloyd an army cargo vest with a small medallion and a small stack of yellow papers with Japanese symbols on them.

"Today's my birthday," Lloyd asked. The green bear had recently had a growth spurt, as he was now in his last major growing years of life and was now about two feet and six inches tall, but he was not fully grown size-wise yet. He was certainly more muscular than he was at the age of six as he had kept up his physical training even as he trained his magical abilities. Koran smiled at his question.

"Truthfully, I'm not sure but it was this day 12 years ago that I found you in the forest and took you into my care, so it might as well be your birthday today. Here this vest was a gift to me when I was young from my father when he fought in a war, it's a bit big but you should be able to wear it."

Lloyd too his gifts, set the medallion and papers aside, and tied the vest on, it was a bit big for him, as the bottom hung around his upper legs, but it fit and would probably fit better when he grew to his full height.

"Thanks, father, but what are these?" he asked, holding the medallion and the papers up.

"Try focusing your energy into the medallion like I've showed you in the past with your magic." Lloyd set the papers aside and held the medallion up and focused his magical energy into it, the medallion lit up brightly and finally it changed into a sword. The sword appeared to have been created with Lloyd in mind as it was a little over two feet long, hilt included and had a flower like cross-hilt which made the blade look like it was blossoming from the handle. On the cross-hilt there was a small teardrop emblem and attached to the back of the hilt was the very medallion Lloyd had been holding moments ago. Lloyd felt the weight of the weapon in his hand and hefted it with a look of amazement in his eyes.

"That sword is the Sword of the Clow, the medallion it can be concealed as will allow you to keep it with you at all times without arousing suspicions and the sword will allow you to project your magic into the world more easily. Those papers I gave you are O-Fuda scrolls and they will held you to increase your magical ability for fighting the combat, I will teach you to make more of them so you will never have to run out of them."

"Thanks Koran," Lloyd said, resealing the sword and standing up, "hey, can I go and get some food for tonight, I think I'm mature enough to do this on my own." Koran mused for a moment before replying.

"Ok, just be careful you never know what will happen out there," Koran cautioned.

"Don't worry father," the bear said, "you've taught me enough that I can handle this myself." Koran watched as Lloyd vanished into the forest, Lloyd's impatience with Koran's decreasing energy was beginning to worry the old man, but it was only Natural for a son to find their parent a bit slow as they got older. The old man shook his head and sighed, Lloyd was really growing up, though he thought too much of his own maturity. Koran was disheartened as he looked at his old hands.

"I only have a few years left, I may be in good physical condition but time will catch up to me soon," he cracked a weak smiled, "oh well, I'm sure he will be able to handle himself in the future." Koran got up and was about to return to the cave when he got a sudden sensation. He turned himself to face where Lloyd had run off to and a look of worry spread across his face.

"Oh no, I have to get to Lloyd before it's too late," and he took off, tough not too fast, to where Lloyd had gone off to.

Lloyd was searching for roots and berries for him and his father to eat; he was determined to prove he could do this on his own so he could prove his own maturity. He was looking around when he saw a strange site in the distance. He squinted, it couldn't be, it looked like Koran had followed him into the woods and he was standing in the distance near a strange part of the woods.

"Father, I said I could do this on my own," he said. The figure of Koran smiled and beckoned to Lloyd. The bear sighed and approached the figure.

"Alright, what is it that you want to show me?" Lloyd said as he approached, not noticing that the figure was floating and that there was a drop off a cliff right where he was.

Koran was charging through he forest as quickly as he could go, following the sense that was guiding him. He arrived just in time to see that Lloyd was about to walk right off a cliff. He charged as his son's foot was about to step on open air and shouted.

"Lloyd get back! That's not me!" Lloyd turned to see his father charging at him, but was not fast enough to stop his fall. Koran was almost close enough to grab him but his foot caught in a tree root and he fell and twisted his ankle, but he fell just close enough to grab his son's leg and hold him so he wouldn't fall. Lloyd was in total shock as the strange image of what appeared to be Koran flickered before turning into a large kaleidoscope of color.

"Step back, Lloyd, please," Koran said, snapping Lloyd out of his stupor and allowing him to step back onto the ledge. Koran reached into his pocket and pulled out the strange key he had found 6 years ago, he tossed it to his son, who caught it easily.

"Use that key, just feel what you need to and you will know what to do," Koran said. Lloyd nodded and concentrated for a moment and realized what he had to do. He turned to face the kaleidoscope creature and held out the key on the string. As he held it the same glyph from 6 years ago formed under his feet, except it was glowing gold. As Lloyd focused energy into the key the cord vanished and it began to float in mid air, the Lloyd spoke aloud an incantation.

"Oh key of clow,

Power of magic,

Power of light,

Surrender the wand,

The force ignite,

Release!"

The key began to lengthen becoming a staff that was the right size for Lloyd to use, with a double-indent on the bottom in place of the key-prongs. Lloyd grabbed the staff form mid air and held it in both hands, raising it above his head as he faced the being, shouting words that came unbidden to his lips.

"Clow Card, I command you to return to your power confined, Clow Card!" he swung the staff forwards and caused the being to be sucked into its containing card which had formed at the "beak" at the head of the staff. The card floated up and into Lloyd's hand and when the glow from the card faded Lloyd could see that the image was the same kaleidoscope pattern that had floated in the air and had the words "The Illusion" across the bottom.

Lloyd turned to see his father in pain, his foot still caught in the tree root that had caused him to twist it. The bear's eyes were in tears as he knelt to see how he was.

"Father, are you alright," he asked, trying to hold back his tears.

"I am fine, here use this," Koran took a small pen from his pocket and handed it to his son, "write your name across the bottom of the card so you will have sealed it or it might escape." Lloyd nodded and took the pen, writing his name across the card's bottom before putting it in his pockets and resealing the staff into the key, which he hung around his neck. Lloyd found he couldn't talk as he helped his father to untangle his leg and him to stand up. Koran could see the sorrow in his son's eyes as he did his best to support him back to their cave, the differences in their height making that a bit complicated.

"I'm sorry, father," Lloyd said, about to cry, "I shouldn't have gone off on my own, if I had just waited till you were ready then you wouldn't have twisted your ankle. It will get better right?" Koran shook his head sadly.

"I don't think so, if I were younger then maybe I would be able to but my body is old and healing is slow and laborious, and I fear that it won't heal before my time comes." Lloyd's yes widened in sorrow and fear, and he clutched his father close.

"Father, please don't die, I don't want you to go because of me," he said, beginning to cry. Koran winced as he was forced to put a little pressure on his foot but he rubbed his son's back reassuringly.

"Don't worry, it's not for a few years now, but I can't help you physically anymore, I won't be able to move much now that my leg is like this."

Once they got back to their home, Lloyd stood and wiped his tears away and faced his father, who was sitting down and working on a walking stick he had grabbed as they returned. Lloyd sniffed and spoke up.

"Father, I promise, I'll do better than today, I won't be so rash, I will capture the Clow Cards on my own and I will make sure that today's accident never happens again!" despite his efforts, the bear was crying again. Koran smiled at his son and spoke up.

"It's good you've learned from this, I can still teach you how to use your magic and how to create those scrolls, now we must get some sleep." Lloyd nodded and moved to help Koran to his bed.

That night, Lloyd had trouble sleeping, still wishing he had been more cautious, and still feeling that it was his fault that Koran had been essentially crippled.


	4. Winds of Change

Chapter 4: Winds of Change

The next six years were even harder on Koran as he grew even older, especially since he had to deal with his now crippled left leg. Lloyd continued to train with his new weapons and watched as his father grew weaker each day, always feeling the guilt that he had been responsible for Koran's permanent limp. Despite this, Lloyd continued to train every day so he would be ready to take on the Clow Cards, building up both his physical strength, agility, and his magical powers.

Finally one day at the end of spring when Lloyd was 17, Koran lay on what would soon be his death bed, a layer of moss spread thick on an area of the ground. Lloyd crouched down beside his father, trying hard to hold back his tears. Koran reached up and placed a hand fondly on his adopted son's cheek.

"No tears Lloyd, you aren't done yet, you still have one task left to perform," he said slowly.

"What do I have to do?" Lloyd asked.

"Go into the forest, you will know once you get there." Lloyd wiped away a couple of tears that had formed in his eyes then got up to do what his father had bidden him to do. As Lloyd left, Koran smiled.

"I know you can succeed but you must do this yourself."

Lloyd walked through the forest for almost an hour. He still could not figure out what exactly Koran wanted him to do, but he had never doubted his father's advice so he moved doggedly onwards. After a while, he stopped and sat down on a tree stump, a bit tired but not enough that he'd have to stop for long. He sat down, thinking over the events of his life, still dwelling on his accident almost 6 years ago, that is until the wind began to pick up and he felt something nearby in the back of his head.

"This feeling, it has to be a Clow Card," he said, his senses having been honed over the past 6 years to the point where he would be able to sense the cards himself. Lloyd reached into one of the pockets of his vest and pulled the Clow Medallion. He closed his eyes and began to focus, sending energy into the medallion causing the sword to appear. The green bear held the sword in his right hand as the wind began to blow even faster.

"It's coming from, over there!" he turned to face the direction that the wind was coming from and saw a small tornado that the wind was emanating from.

"That has to be it!" the green bear said. He held the sword up parallel to his body and put his index and middle fingers on the flat of the blade next to the hilt.

"Force, know my plight, release the light!" he raised the sword over his head and shouted the last word of his incantation, "LIGHTNING!" he swung the sword in a vertical arc and a pulse of yellow lightning flew at the whirlwind. As soon as the pulse hit the whirlwind began to be electrocuted and the wind reduced to a fairly low speed.

"Now for the final blow," he pulled an O-fuda paper from one of his vest pockets and threw it forwards holding his sword straight up again.

"Now, element Lightning! Come to my aid!" he twisted the sword to be flat in front of him and slammed it against the O-fuda paper. As soon as he did so the paper burst forth in a blast of 9 bolts of lightning that arced towards the whirlwind and encircled it, completely halting the wind.

"Now's my chance," he dropped his sword point into the ground and quickly lifted the amulet off of his neck and held the key in the palm of his hand while speaking another incantation.

"Oh key of clow,

Power of magic,

Power of light,

Surrender the wand,

The force ignite,

Release!"

The cord attached to the key vanished as the key itself was surrounded in a blue sphere of light and floated above his hand. The key began to grow and extend eventually forming a staff about as long as the green bear's sword with the same bird like head at the top that had been on the key. He charged at the whirlwind as the electricity wore down and raised the staff above his head, jumping as the gap between him and his target closed.

"Clow Card, I command you to return to your power confined, CLOW CARD!" as soon as he said this, he swung the staff down with the "beak" facing the whirlwind. A card shaped piece of light formed at the "beak" and the whirlwind began to get sucked into it; the whirlwind changed into a woman clothed in clothing made of feathers and light clothing as she was fully sucked into the card. As the process finished, the green bear landed on the ground and the card now solid floated up, then into the green bear's hand. The glow faded and the card turned fully solid. The card had a picture that took up almost then entire side of the card of the woman from moment before on the front with the words "The Windy" across the bottom. Lloyd gritted his teeth, his lips still closed, as he saw the card.

"The Windy Card, one of the four element cards, and the card that started all of this. The same card I accidentally unleashed 12 years ago," the green bear said. The green bear stood up and pulled out a pen from one of the pockets of his vest and wrote his name "Lloyd Terada" across the bottom of the card, below the card's name. He then resealed his staff and hung it around his neck as the key one again and retrieved his sword, resealing it into its medallion form and sticking back in one of the pockets of his vest. He then turned and dashed back to the cave where he lived, clutching the card he had just captured in his hand.

When Lloyd returned to the cave, he found his father still lying on his soon to be deathbed.

"Koran, are you alright?" he asked, kneeling by his father's side. Ignoring the question, Koran asked one of his own.

"What did you find?" Lloyd held the card forwards.

"I found and fought the Windy Card, and I was able to capture it." Koran Terada smiled.

"Good, then my work is done," Koran closed his eyes. Lloyd could feel his father slipping away and clasped his hand in his own. Before he could say anything, Koran spoke.

"Don't be sad, everything must go sometime and now that I know you can do your duty, I can pass on in peace." At the end of that sentence, Lloyd felt Koran, the man who had raised him and taught him everything he knew, slip away into his eternal rest. Overcome with grief, Lloyd lay over his father's body, and cried himself to sleep.


	5. Beasts of Guarding and Shadow

Chapter 5: Beasts of Guarding and Shadow

Lloyd awoke the next day still lying across his father's dead body. Drying his eyes he got up and decided to bury his father that day. A short time later, Lloyd had dug a small grave in the ground near to the cave and placed his father's body in it; in order to keep Koran's final resting place from being disturbed he shuffled around on top of the ground to hide where he had overturned the earth and lastly used on of his O-fuda scrolls to blow the dirt around so it looked like the place hadn't been disturbed for years.

When Lloyd returned to his cave home, he realized just how hungry he was. He made a quick meal out of the last of the food they had stored, which was not all that much, and came to a decision as her ate.

"I can't stay here. The Clow Cards are probably everywhere and there's a huge world out there. I can gather provisions today and leave in the evening." For the rest of the day, Lloyd did just that, gathering what berries he knew were edible and the various fruits and roots he found around the forest. Though he ate meat, Lloyd could not bring himself to kill any of the other animals he encountered, deciding to just stick with the plants he could find.

It was very late in the evening when Lloyd finished gathering what he could find and loading it into his backpack. Shouldering it, and making sure he had all of his possessions with him, he walked out of the cave that he had called home. Before he set off, he turned to look one last time at his old home.

"I will never come back this way again, there are too many memories and it would be too painful to return," Lloyd turned his back on his home, took a deep breath, and set off into the woods, and to his future. Though the night was dark and it was hard to see the stars, Lloyd knew instinctively that he should go south, which he knew was the way the entrance to his old home had faced.

Less than an hour into his departure, Lloyd though he heard something in the distance. He brushed this off as some forest animal night hunting and continued on his way. The next time he heard the noise, it was closer, and he felt a chill run down his spine. Once again he brushed it off and continued on his way.

The next time he heard the noise, he knew it wasn't an animal, at least one he'd never heard before. The strange symbol flashed on his tummy and he felt a sick feeling in his stomach, which meant there was danger nearby. Lloyd quickly withdrew the medallion from his vest pocket and focused his power into it, changing it into the Clow Blade. As he waited, terrible memories began to resurface, from when he was just a little cub, memories of a terrifying monster that had almost killed him. When it came crashing through the forest to meet him, Lloyd froze at the sight of the black creatures with long sharp claws and teeth with blood red eyes. This same creature had haunted his dreams since he had been a cub, even though his father said he had destroyed it, one was now charging at him. Lloyd forcefully galvanised his legs into action in order to dodge the creature, which sliced a tree trunk half-way through in one slash. In one movement, Lloyd rounded on the monster and placed his left middle and index fingers on the top of the sword's hilt with the sword held straight up. As the monster rounded on him he raised the sword high and shouted.

"Force, know my plight, Release the Light! LIGHTNING!" and he swung the sword down in the direction of the monster. A bolt of lightning flew from the arc of the blade and hit the creature dead on, injuring it and knocking it back almost a foot. The creature recovered quickly and attacked again, this time Lloyd was able to dodge out of the way and in the same motion, stick an O-Fuda scroll on the creatures head. When the creature turned again, Lloyd held his sword up in the same way as before and shouted.

"Element, Lightning!" and yellow lightning bolts erupted from the scroll, electrocuting its body completely. As its body was assaulted by the lightning, it began to dissolve into dust, screaming in the most unearthly voice until it was gone completely. Lloyd was momentarily amazed, until he turned and resealed his sword.

"No more fear, I can't let my nightmares trouble me anymore," Lloyd began walking again, this time with a renewed sense of purpose.

Lloyd had been walking for hours, having left the forest about an hour and a half after his encounter, across the planes of northern Saskatchewan when he realised how tired he was. Deciding to settle down for a rest he stopped and sat down. One of the things that he carried with him was an afghan blanket that his sensei had given him their first winter together, and he still had it so he spread it out and sat on it. The night was not very cold so he sat on the blanket for a while and contemplated his situation.

"Well here I am, on my own," he said aloud, though no one was around, "I just hope I know where I'm supposed to go. But for now," he opened his backpack and pulled out the Book of Clow and some berries he had gathered and knew were edible. As he ate he looked at the Clow Book and after a moment, tried to open it by pulling the latch off.

"The lock is stuck, why won't it open, it opened 12 years ago when I just touched it but now it won't budge," he grunted as he tried to pull it off as hard as he could, even applying magic to the lock in order to break it, but nothing worked. Lloyd set the book down and leaned over, causing the key to dangle forwards into his field of view.

"Maybe, the Clow Key," he said as he spotted the dangling amulet, pulling it off of his neck. He held the key in his right hand and the book in his left, stuck the key in the lock and turned it. Almost instantly there was a brief flash of light and the latch snapped open, the key popping out of the lock automatically. Inside he saw the five Clow Cards he had trapped inside 12 years ago. He removed the cards and spread them in his hands to look at them. One had a picture of an old man holding and hourglass and the words "The Time" across the bottom, another had a woman wearing an elaborate costume with a large hat and the words "The Dream" across the bottom, a third had a picture of a young woman dressed as an acrobat passing through a small disc with the words "The Through" written on it, the fourth had a picture of a woman holding scales in his hands with "The Libra" written across the bottom, the last had a young girl on the front with a large amount of bubbles surrounding her and the words "The Bubbles" written on it.

"These are the ones I trapped inside the book when I unsealed it years ago," Lloyd felt the cards wanted to be released but he knew what to do, pulling out a pen he wrote his name "Lloyd Terada" across the bottom of the cards, sealing them into his possession

"Through, Time, Libra, Dream, Bubbles, Illusion, and the Windy," he thought about for a moment, until the Clow Book, or rather its front cover, began to glow.

"What the?" was all he said before something emerged from the book. The thing looked like a teddy bear with oversized ears, a long tail like a lion's, and two small white wings. The creature yawned and stretched before speaking.

"Ah, that was a good rest," he said.

"Who are you?" Lloyd asked. The creature seemed to just be aware of the green bear's presence when he spoke.

"Me? I'm Keroberos the guardian beast of the seal of the Clow Cards, and it looks like you woke me up," the Clow Book floated up next to the where the creature floated about a foot off the ground, "and so it's my duty to make sure the Clow Cards don't escape," as he spoke he turned around. As soon as Kero noticed the book was empty he freaked out.

"Waugh! All my cards are gone! How did this happen?"

"I have some here," Kero turned and saw the seven cards on the ground.

"Oh thank goodness," he said, diving at them and appearing to embrace them, "They're not all gone." He stood up and observed them.

"Through, Time, Libra, Dream, Bubbles, Illusion and Windy, you've done a good job if you captured these so far," Kero said.

"Actually, the only ones I captured myself were these," he held up The Windy and Illusion Card, "The others were ones I managed to trap inside the book when I broke the seal 12 years ago."

"You mean you were the one who broke the seal on the book?" Kero asked, intrigued.

"Yes I did. My father, Koran Terada, said the book was in his family, passed down from Clow Reed, and they were looking for the chosen one who could control the cards, after he found out that I broke the seal he told me that that was that someone and began to teach me how to use my magical abilities to fight and capture those cards." Lloyd paused then asked, "If you were in there then why didn't you just come out when I unsealed the book 12 years ago?"

"Well I tried, but _someone_ sealed the book before I could get fully awake so I only had time to toss out the Key of the Clow so the book could be opened again."

"Well pardon me, what, before you were fully awake, are you telling me that the reason you couldn't stop the cards from escaping was because you were asleep?" Lloyd asked, surprised that Kero would be so irresponsible.

"I was taking a nap: guarding those cards can get a little tiring after hundreds of years."

"How long was the nap?"

"About 50 or 60 years," Kero seemed embarrassed. Lloyd glared at him but then sighed.

"We can talk more in the morning, I need some sleep." Kero yawned.

"You're right I could use some rest." Lloyd rolled his eyes before lying down under the blanket and falling asleep. It was an odd experience for him, as he had never slept without something over his head before, but he still managed to fall asleep.


	6. First Friend

Chapter 6: First Friend

Looking back, Lloyd realized that he should have given his long venture more thought. Unfortunately by the time that he realized this he was exhausted, ached all over, and was very hungry, not having eaten now since he found some edible berries three days ago. The heat of the summer sun was also unbearable and he was close to being dehydrated. Kero floated out of Lloyd's backpack, perfectly fine and asked.

"Hey Lloyd, are you OK?" Lloyd took a deep breath and stopped walking before responding, his voice raspy from the lack of water.

"No, I'm hungry and tired and very thirsty, who knew that this quest would end after only 10 days."

"Well I feel fine," Kero said.

"That's because you don't need food and water," Lloyd replied, unable to express his contempt. Lloyd looked up and spied a strip of black ahead, _'a road?'_ he thought. Knowing that there might be people nearby he began moving as fast as he could towards the road, but fell down about 3 feet from it, his eyes closing. Kero was worried.

"Oh man, this can't happen, I've got to find some way to get him up and awake. What," his large ears picked up the sound of an engine. Not knowing what it was he looked down the road from where the sound was coming and saw a vehicle approaching. Though he was not familiar with human technology, he correctly guessed that the vehicle was a human transport and dived into Lloyd's backpack, knowing he couldn't be seen and hoping for the best.

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Lloyd came to in a bumpy area. He felt like he was moving and when he opened his eyes he saw the face of a young human girl with black hair.

"Julian, he's awake," the girl said to someone Lloyd couldn't see. The girl looked down at Lloyd and asked, "Can you understand me?"

Lloyd nodded, the girl smiled and said.

"Here, you must be hungry," she reached for something, tore off its wrapper and pushed it into his mouth. Lloyd bit down and chewed whatever it was tasted sweet. Lloyd took good sized bites until he was done whatever it was drifted back into unconsciousness. The car moved on and inside Lloyd's backpack, Kero was being squished under the Book of the Clow.

'_I hope this doesn't last long, cause it's cramped in here'_ Kero thought to himself.

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Lloyd awoke under a blanket on a bed, though still hungry and thirsty he felt better. Lloyd sat up just as the young girl from the car entered, carrying a bottle of water.

"Oh you're up I was just coming to check on you. Thirsty?" she asked, holding up the bottle of water. Lloyd nodded and reached for the battle of water, which the girl handed to him. She watched in amazement at how fast the green bear downed the water, guzzling the entire bottle in about 30 seconds. After he finished Lloyd gasped for air and spoke.

"Thanks, I don't think I could have survived out there without this."

"I just saw you lying at the side of the road and got my brother to pull over, we didn't know you could talk until just now," The girl replied.

"Yeah, did you get my backpack and vest," he said, just noticing he was not wearing either.

"They're over there, we didn't take anything out," The girl gestured over to where the two articles were lying in a corner. "Come out when your ready, supper should be ready soon." Once the young girl left, Lloyd climbed out of the bed and went over to where his backpack and vest lay on the ground, he pulled the vest on and looked in his backpack.

"Hey are you OK Kero?" he asked.

"I will be," Kero said, "Where are we anyways?" Kero asked.

"In the house of some girl who saved us, I'll get something to eat and some information about where we are, just sit tight."

"Alright, but hurry up."

Lloyd exited the room and found his way to the dining table where the young girl from before and a young man with short hair and wearing glasses sat. Lloyd ate enthusiastically, knowing how to use utensils from what his father had taught him; the meal was penne pasta and some sort of salad with a dressing on it that Lloyd later found out was called Cesar. After the meal, Lloyd sat down with Madison and her brother.

"First, thanks for saving me back there, I don't think I could have survived. But who are you anyways."

"My name is Madison Taylor," the girl replied, her brother spoke next.

"And I'm Julian Star, I'm Madison's adopted older brother but I kept the last name I had from before I was adopted."

"Did you ever know your parents?" Lloyd asked.

"No, but I consider Madison's family my own since I was adopted when I was very young."

"Our mother owns a very successful toy and electronics company in Japan and were just on a very long tour of North America seeing our relatives, I'm being home schooled outside of summertime so I can keep my grades up," Madison explained. Lloyd wouldn't tell them until later that he didn't understand half of what Madison said but instead decided to speak of his past; he knew he couldn't mention the Clow Cards but he didn't like lying, so he just left out all of the magic from his story.

"I grew up in a cave to the north of here. I was raised by a man named Koran Terada who taught me about several things, he died about a month ago and his last wish for me was to venture out and find a place where I could live. I ran out of food a few days ago and I haven't eaten or drank anything since before today."

"That is odd?" Julian said, "How did you get like that?" Lloyd guessed, correctly, that he was talking about his appearance and he was glad that he was able to answer this question honestly.

"I have no idea. My earliest memory is of a white light and some strange noise, like the cry of an animal in great pain. I think whatever made that sound killed my real parents, after that I just remember waking up next to the man who became my adopted father."

"Do you have any clothes in that backpack you brought with you?" Madison asked.

"No, this vest is the only piece of clothing I own," Lloyd replied.

"Then we'll have to fix that, it's not appropriate to go around wearing only a vest, even if you have fur."

Lloyd looked down at himself and spoke.

"Ok, but wouldn't I need to wear clothes to go and get some more?"

A few minutes later, Lloyd stood in a bedroom wearing a pink t-shirt and overalls that were a bit tight on his body, his vest having been put in the wash with a load the same size a short time ago that was being overseen by their uncle Joe.

"You've got to be kidding me," he said.

"It's the only thing we have in your size," Madison said, "Our aunt Sonia in La Ronge sewed it for me when I was younger but never got around to sending it to us so we picked it up when we were there."

"Alright, but where exactly are we going?"

"To the mall," Julian replied.

30 minutes later the car Julian had pulled into the parking lot of a store called "Wal-Mart", which was attached to several other stores.

"So this is a mall?" Lloyd asked.

"Yep, now get out, you have to get some clothes that fit," Madison answered.

When Lloyd entered the building it was all he could do not to freak out. Everything inside the structure was unknown to him, the fluorescent lighting, the packaged food, both healthy and otherwise, on the shelves, and the hustle and bustle of people walking around shopping. Lloyd just stood staring for a moment before he was ushered along by Madison.

Lloyd was led around by Madison and Julian as they took him to the section for children's clothes, as those were the only clothes that would fit Lloyd due to his height. It took time for Lloyd to try on various clothing but finally settling on some rather plain t-shirts, shorts, and pants. On the way to the checkout stand they passed a large number of display stands that had been toppled over; the whole are was marked off by "Police Line Do Not Cross Tape".

"What happened here?" Julian asked. A security guard nearby came over and explained.

"It just happened last night, the night crew heard noises but didn't see anyone and this morning this part of the store, the men's section was all disarranged." Lloyd stood back from the incident and suddenly he felt something in the back of his head and his eyes narrowed.

"There's a Clow Card behind this!" he said under his breath.

"Pardon me," Madison turned to face Lloyd, forcing the bear to quickly say something else.

"I said I'm feeling a little hungry." This was not exactly a lie, as Lloyd was feeling hungry at the moment.

"Then we should get something to eat for dinner at the McDonalds here after we pay for these clothes. You two go on ahead, I'll meet you there," Julian said, as he left to pay for the clothing.

Madison led Lloyd to the restaurant that was in Wal-Mart. When they arrived, Lloyd started at the human sized statue of a person wearing the oddest clothes he had ever seen and having a white face with a red nose.

"Who or what is that thing?" Lloyd asked.

"He's the mascot for this restaurant," Madison replied, "I was kind of scared of him when I first saw him too."

Because Lloyd wasn't familiar with this kind of food, Madison went and ordered for him, herself, and Julian. While he waited, Julian arrived and took his seat. While he waited and ate, Lloyd was thinking about the damaged area earlier.

'_I'm going to have to talk to Kero when we get back to their house. I just hope he hasn't done anything foolish while we've been gone'_


	7. Team up to Capture

Chapter 7: Team up to Capture

Back at the house, Kero poked his head out of the backpack.

"Man it's hot in there," he floated out and looked out the open door, "I hope there's something good to eat in here. Kero floated out of the room and into the dining room where he found a plate of cookies on the table.

"Alright!" he shouted, grabbing one and devoured it in the space of about 30 seconds. He suddenly heard the sounds of something behind him and turned around to see an older man with a moustache staring at him from the doorway that led to the living room. Both of them stared at each other before they both shouted in surprise and Kero dove back into the room where the backpack was while the man collapsed on the couch.

Julian had just parked outside the house when he heard the screams from inside.

"What was that?" Madison asked as she climbed out of the car, with Julian in tow and Lloyd behind them carrying the bag of clothes they had bought for him. As they made their way into the house Lloyd thought to himself.

'_I hope Kero had nothing to do with that but that's probably a faint hope at best.'_

Inside Madison and Julian found their uncle Joe sitting on the couch in shock muttering.

"Strange little stuffed animal, it was talking." Lloyd gulped and took the bag of clothes from Julian before disappeared into the room he had left his stuff in while Julian and Madison questioned their uncle about what he had seen. Once in the room he quickly pulled off the clothes Madison had loaned him and took out some of the clothes that they had bought earlier and pulled them on, grey boxers, white socks, a pair of grey shorts, and an orange t-shirt; he took out the pair of brown approach boots and set them on the ground before going over to his bed where his cargo vest had been left after it had been washed and pulled it over his shirt. The clothes were a bit itchy but he figured he'd get use to it as he peered into his backpack. Kero stared back at him, looking a bit scared but mostly trying to look innocent.

"Kero, please tell me you stayed in here while we were gone," Kero smiled nervously, floating out of the backpack once Lloyd backed up to give him the space to do so.

"Well actually, I left to get some food and freaked out this older guy in the living room then rushed back here." Lloyd sighed and put his hand on forehead in frustration. Before he could say anything, he heard Julian from the living room.

"Lloyd, could you come out here please?" Lloyd turned and left.

A moment later he was in the living room with Julian and Madison sitting on the couch where their uncle had been sitting before.

"Lloyd, our uncle is resting because he said he was shocked by a flying stuffed animal a minute ago, do you know anything about this?" Madison asked, not accusingly but inquisitively. Lloyd thought for a minute before replying.

"Well, I was going to tell you that I didn't know but I don't want to lie, and because you saved my life and bought me these clothes I'm going to tell you something I probably shouldn't." Lloyd turned back to his room and shouted, "Kero, come out here!" the little yellow creature floated into the living room, but quickly hid behind Lloyd when he saw that the two humans were in the room.

"Lloyd, we can't tell people about me or other such things," Kero hissed to Lloyd.

"Kero, these people saved my life and have offered to help me fit in with the human society when they could have just left me to die, we owe them this much." Kero sighed and floated out into view again, before adopting a more cheery personality and introducing himself.

"My name is Keroberos, nice to meet you."

"Keroberos here, or Kero as you may call him, is the guardian beast of the seal of powerful objects called Clow Cards and before you ask I'll explain what they are. Over 500 years ago, the magician Clow Reed created the Clow Cards as tools to aid in the use of magic by using the natural elements of the Earth as well as several man-made innovations to his advantage. These cards, though powerful, were also sentient and powerful enough to control the world should they ever be out of control, so Clow Reed sealed them in a book that was guarded by Kero here in order for them to choose a new father in the future." Kero then took over the explanation.

"12 years ago, Lloyd here broke the seal on the book but he let the cards all escape while keeping me sealed in the book until he let me out just recently. Lloyd is the destined master of the Clow Cards and it is his duty to go capture and seal the Clow Cards before they cause too much damage to the world."

Both Julian and Madison were a bit dumbstruck by this, and a bit sceptical, but before they could ask anything, Lloyd spoke up again.

"Earlier today at that Wal-Mart place we went to I sensed a Clow Card at where the displays were disrupted. I have to capture it before it causes more damage or gets away. I have to go back there tonight."

"Well if you're going to fight something magical then I have something that could help you," Madison said.

"What is it," Lloyd paused then spoke again, "You two believe me?"

"Well, I'm not sure what to think, but the little floating bear here and your own appearance means that what you say could easily be true," Julian said.

"Besides, you don't have any reason to lie about this sort of thing, now I have something to show you," Madison led Lloyd to another room.

A couple minutes later, Lloyd was dressed in an elaborate green costume with two large pieces of costume jewellery on the sides of a hat, which had two angled spikes on the sides of the head. The main body of the shirt had large sleeves with thick yellow rims that almost reached the ground, white pants, green slip on shoes, a yellow collar, a strange symbol on the front, and a flap in front of the middle of the legs with a Yin-Yang symbol on the bottom.

"What is this?" Lloyd asked.

"It's a costume I made and ended up packing by accident, it's the perfect thing to wear to fight something magical, I always make my costumes fire resistant, and durable enough to withstand harsh weather and rough conditions," Madison explained.

"It is a good idea for you to look like you mean business when fighting the Clow Cards, if you do then they'll take you more seriously and you'll be able to improve your skills with each capture, huh," Kero turned to Madison, "Where did you get this design Madison?"

"I saw the design in an old book from china so I thought I'd try it out, why?"

"Because, it looks a lot like clothing worn by Clow Reed's family," Lloyd was astounded.

"Do you think this means anything?" he asked.

"Possibly, but more for that later," Kero turned to Julian, "Can you drop us off at that store?"

"Alright, just be careful, I don't want you two get caught," Julian replied.

The store was closing by the time Julian pulled up and let Lloyd in his battle costume and sword strapped to his back and Madison, who had her video camera, out in front of Wal Mart.

"Just be back as soon as possible, but how are you going to get inside with the security guards and night crew around?" Julian asked.

"I'm going to use a Clow Card, it's risky but I don't see any other way in safely," Lloyd replied, "Just show me to a wall that leads to the store."

"Lloyd, you're not planning to use the Through Card are you?" Kero asked, worried.

"No choice Kero, doors are locked and we have to get inside to capture that Clow Card," Lloyd said, as Madison led them to a wall on the side of the store. Lloyd looked around and seeing no one but Kero and Madison he pulled out the Key of Clow.

"Madison, what you see here you can never tell anyone except Julian about," he said, before holding the key out by its neck string and chanting the incantation to release the staff.

"Oh key of Clow,

Power of magic,

Power of light,

Surrender the wand,

The force ignite,

Release!"

The key extended into the sealing staff, as Madison videotaped the while event. Holding onto the staff he opened the book attached to his waist by a cord and pulled out the Through Card, which depicted a woman passing through a thin disk.

"Grab and hold onto me, this is going to feel funny," Madison took hold of Lloyd's left shoulder and Kero floated down to sit on his right shoulder as Lloyd threw the Through Card forwards; as it hovered in front of him he raised his staff he said.

"Through Card, allow us to pass through this wall, Release and Dispell!" as he spoke the last word, Lloyd struck the card, causing it to light up and their bodies and everything attached to them to become transparent. Lloyd took a deep breath and stepped into the wall, taking Kero and Madison with him.

Inside the store, one of the walls behind some mid floor clothing racks began to distort as ripples appeared on its surface. A moment later Lloyd, with Kero on his right shoulder and Madison holding onto his left, emerged. Their bodies became opaque again as the Through Card reappeared in his hand.

"That's good, at least we didn't get stuck in the wall," Lloyd said.

"That was reckless, Lloyd, but it got us in. Just don't do that again, we could get stuck if you're low on energy.

"Then we'll have to find another way out when we're done," Lloyd replied, "Now we need to find that Clow Card, more importantly we need to find out which one it is."

"That's simple, it's the Shadow Card," Kero stated, matter-of-factly.

"I thought you weren't supposed to help me in my tests," Lloyd said.

"Only the most important ones, in this case I can help you, now we just need to find out where it is," Kero replied.

"Right," Madison said, holding up her camera again, "the damage we saw was at the border of the boys and girls clothing."

"It's as good a place as any to start, let's go," Lloyd said.

"Shhh!" Madison said, "We can't get caught by security or the night crew not to mention the security cameras."

"Security cameras?" Lloyd asked. Madison pointed to what looked like a large black orb hanging from a metal pole stuck to the ceiling.

"They monitor places throughout the store so people will be able to find out if we're here," Madison explained.

"Then I'll have to cover them, I just hope this doesn't drain me too much," as he said this, Lloyd withdrew The Bubbles Card from the book. Throwing the car forwards the struck it with his staff.

"Bubbles Card, use your power to block all of the security cameras. Release and Dispell!"

With that command the Bubbles spirit emerged before splitting into thousands of bubbles which fanned out across the store, one patch going to cover the nearby camera while others spread out to the rest of the store in search of other cameras.

"That should keep security blind to our activities," Lloyd said.

"Won't that drain you to keep it active?" Madison asked.

"It shouldn't, The Bubbles Card doesn't take much energy, though it reinforces my point that you'll have to find another way out of here," Kero said.

"Now we have to try and find signs of The Shadow Card," Lloyd said.

"We should start by searching where it probably last was," Kero suggested.

"That would be by those display stands we saw earlier, follow me," Madison led the way as the dashed towards the area she had mentioned. Shortly after they left a night crewman arrived carrying a ladder and cleaning supplies. He stopped walking and stared up at the security camera that had first been affected by The Bubbles Card.

"How in the heck did that happen?" he wondered allowed as he set up the ladder and climbed up to the camera. He wet the sponge in the bucket of water he had brought with him and tried to wipe the bubbles from the surface of the security camera, but every time he cleared some of the bubbles away others surrounding it would expand to cover what he had wiped away. After about 5 minutes trying to clean off the camera dome he gave up.

"Great, first the night time destruction for the last week and now soap that wont rub off, I'll tell the maintenance guys to fix this when they get here." The night crewman climbed down collapsed the ladder and carried it back to where it was stored.

Elsewhere in the store, Lloyd and Kero were leading Madison around as they tried to get a sense of the Shadow Card's location. Madison was filming them and while she was excited, she was also getting anxious about what was going on.

"Lloyd, just how long will it take for the Shadow Card to show up." Lloyd was about to

"That's how long, let's go," Lloyd whispered loudly. The three of them hurried to where they heard the noise. When they arrived, they saw the same man who had checked the security camera earlier staring at a row of shelves that had been toppled like dominoes.

"I can't handle this, I'm a stock boy not a shelf mover," the man said, "I'm taking my break." As the man walked away, heading to the break room, Lloyd, Kero and Madison approached the area where the shelves had toppled.

"The Shadow Card has to be around here somewhere," Lloyd said. Suddenly he sensed the Clow Card, it was very close. Drawing his sword he shouted.

"Get back!" As if triggered by his voice, a massive amount of shadows converged on Lloyd's position. Madison Backed of quickly but kept her camera trained on Lloyd. A large black tentacle suddenly rose from the shadows and wrapped itself about Lloyd's right leg. Taken only slightly off guard, Lloyd drew the sword from his back and sliced the tentacle off of his leg and moved back away from the darkness as quickly as he could. Unfortunately, the tentacle he chopped off reattached itself to the mass and clung to his leg again. Lloyd sheathed his sword and pulled out a Clow Card.

"Windy, beak up the Shadows! Release and Dispell!" he shouted, throwing the aforementioned card forwards and pulling his staff out to strike it. The Windy spirit emerged and attacked the shadows with long whips of air, but the Shadows just landed on the ground and reformed, attacking the Cardcaptor again.

Kero and Madison, who was videotaping, watched as Lloyd struggled against his opponent.

"Can Lloyd do this alone?" Madison asked.

"Maybe, but there might be a way we can help," Kero said, "If the shadows are hit with light then they'll vanish."

"Perfect, follow me," Madison took off and Kero floated after her.

"Where are we going?" Kero asked.

"To the controls for the lights in this place, if we find them then we should be able to get rid of the shadows."

Lloyd was starting to really have problems as the Shadows were overwhelming him with their sheer size. He fended them off with his sword and the occasional blast of lightning but he was in danger, until the lights in his section of the store came on and the shadows faded to nothing. Lloyd stood bewildered for a moment until he heard someone running up to him and turned to see Madison and Kero coming in his direction.

"Are you OK?" Kero asked.

"I'm fine, but what happened just now?" Lloyd asked.

"I turned on the lights over here, I figured that the shadows would vanish if hit with light," Madison explained.

"Thanks, but what about The Shadow Card?" Lloyd asked.

"Over there, the Shadow Spirit!" Kero shouted, pointing in the direction of the store's front door. In that direction a figure wearing a long robe was moving slowly, trying to escape.

"Then leave this to me!" Lloyd said, taking off after the spirit. The Shadow Spirit turned and threw a tentacle at Lloyd to try and stop him, but Lloyd deflected it with his sword and then grabbed his staff, pulling out a Clow Card from the book at his side. Throwing it forwards, he shouted an incantation.

"Windy Card! Form a chain to tie up the Shadow Spirit, Release and Dispell!" he struck the card with his staff and the Windy Spirit came out and then flew at the Shadow Spirit. The Windy Spirit surrounded the Shadow Card, tying it up and immobilising it. Seizing his chance, Lloyd charged, raising his staff and swinging it at the immobilised Shadow Spirit once he got close enough.

"Shadow Card! I command you to return to your power confined, Shadow Card!" A card shaped piece of light formed in front of the staff's beak and the Shadow Spirit was sucked in. The card, which bore the image of the Shadow Spirit and had the words "The Shadow" written across the bottom, floated up and into Lloyd's waiting hand.

"There, I got it," he said, as Kero and Madison walked over to him. A sound in the distance caused them to take off towards the entrance, as they suspected that the store's personnel were coming to investigate all of the commotion.

Meanwhile back at the scene, the same person who had been working earlier came across the devastation caused by Lloyd's escapade.

"Oh man, I do not want to clean this up. I need a vacation."

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Back at Madison's Uncle's house Lloyd sat exhausted on the couch.

"Man I'm tired," he said.

"I feel like I've just had a hard day at school," Madison said.

"School, what's school?" Lloyd asked.

"You don't know what school is?" Madison asked.

"I lived in a cave for most of my life so I don't know much of anything about this world."

"Well, I could tell you some stuff, but I only have a month before we move on to visit another one of our relatives."


	8. On my way again

Chapter 8: On my way Again

The next month was a blur for Lloyd as Madison and her brother taught him as much as they could about the world; time passed so fast that his 18th birthday came and went without him even noticing. He did remember one day but didn't bother mentioning it as he was so absorbed in learning about the modern world, aspects like electricity, transportation, and currency becoming clearer to him, though he still had problems understanding some of it. On his last night Lloyd had the oddest dream; in fact he was sure it was a vision, especially when he saw Koran Terada, his adopted father, appear before him.

"Father?" Lloyd said. Koran smiled at him.

"Lloyd," his father smiled at him, "I'm glad to see that you've grown so much, you look like you're really up to the task of capturing the Clow Cards. Lloyd, before I found you, I was searching for a purpose in life and when I found you, and accidentally gave you some of my powers, I knew I had found a purpose, it was short, but those years I spent with you, raising and training you, were the happiest years of my life."

"But, how can you be, it was my fault you were crippled, if I had been more responsible then you would have been able to walk and maybe live longer," Lloyd began to cry. Koran's spirit approached his son and wiped the tears from his face.

"Don't be sad, we're both to blame, if I had taught you more about sensing the Clow Cards then maybe you would have recognized it before it lured you out there. But I've seen your recent captures and I can see you've learned and are growing, so please move forwards. I believe there are other creatures like you in the world and you must go forth and find them, then you won't be alone anymore." Once he said this, Koran began to fade and float away and spoke his last line, "be happy, Lloyd, and always keep searching."

Lloyd awoke, clearly remembering his dream.

"Don't worry, I will," he said, before he got up off the couch, where he had been sleeping for the last month. It was now the 8th of August and it was time for him to continue on his way. He didn't have much to pack, having done so the previous night, so he just ate breakfast with Madison and Julian (as their uncle was still asleep), before they set off. Though they were going to a different location, Julian and Madison had agreed to drop Lloyd off just outside of town. Lloyd was sitting in the back with his backpack on the seat next to him, Kero was asleep in the backpack on top of the food and clothing that was packed. As they approached the edge of the city, Madison handed him a wallet.

"Here's a final going away present," she said. Lloyd took the item and opened it. Surprised at the contents he said.

"There's over $600 in here, I can't accept this!"

"Don't worry," Julian said, "our mother owns a very successful toy company back home so we can afford this easily, besides you'll need enough to afford supplies along the way, so you don't end up like we found you a month ago."

"Alright," Lloyd put the wallet into his right hip pocket, "but where should I go from here?"

"Unless you have another destination in mind, you might want to go to Regina to the south of here, just use the road map in your back pack to find it," Madison replied.

"Thanks, I think I should get out here," he said, noticing that they were getting to the edge of Saskatoon. Pulling over, Julian Let Lloyd got out of the car. After closing the door, he waved goodbye as the Car pulled back onto the road, turned right and continued on its way. Lloyd took out the road map from the smaller pocket on the side of the backpack and looked at it. Seeing that he should follow the road he was on at the moment, he dashed to the other side, since he had been told to walk on the left side so he could see oncoming cars, he hefted the backpack on his shoulders, over the vest that he wore over his new clothes and said aloud.

"Looks likes my destiny is out there, so I better go and meet it," he then set off, hoping to find the others like him that his father had mentioned in his vision.


End file.
